Harm and Harmony

-Chapter 44-

Day: 22

Days Left: 5458

Lives Saved: 0

Corinna dragged herself inside the house, her clothes and hair heavy and drenched from the rain. She lied down on her back on the wooden floor, still shivering from the cold, but a smile remained on her face.

Harmony closed the front door then collapsed onto the floor alongside Corinna, and flopped a large soaked furry arm on top of the young woman, trapping her.

Groaning, Corinna attempted to heave the heavy and damp arm off of her, but after a few half-hearted and weak tries she gave up, and the arm flopped heavily back down on her stomach. "Ow."

"Your own fault," the chimaera grumbled, her bright green eyes slowly and gently closing.

"Please tell me you're not going to fall asleep here."

The chimaera did not respond.

Corinna scowled, then looked to the side at the gaping hole where the fireplace used to be. Rain pummeled in through the opening in the roof, battering the wooden floorboards.

"We need to cover up that hole or the rain will make all the floorboards rotten." Corinna turned back to face Harmony who responded in a growling moan before eventually stumbling up and heading towards the basement.

"I'll find something," Harmony said, descending the ladder down and closing the hatch behind her.

Meanwhile, Corinna emptied the cleaning bucket and used it, along with a load of towels, to catch the rain.

Harmony soon returned with a large sheet of green canvas and some rope. They worked together to cover the majority of the hole with the canvas sheet then moved the damp armchairs further inside. It was still raining heavily outside, causing the canvas sheet to cave inwards and lurch violently.

No longer with a fireplace, the house was cold. Very cold.

"We should sleep down in the basement," said Harmony. "It'll be warmer."

"The basement?" Corinna looked back at the chimaera.

"Yeah." She nodded and motioned for the young woman to follow.

For three weeks, Corinna had been theorising what was down in that basement. Why had Harmony been so reluctant to show her? But now she was finally going to see what the secret was.

Following after Harmony, Corinna descended down the ladder into darkness, almost toppling over as her feet reached the floor. Fumbling around, Harmony eventually found the cord to the light switch and turned it on.

Strings of lights that hung from the ceiling blinked on with a humming drone in different alternating colours. The basement was a similar size to the upstairs, but no one would ever believe it due to how crammed it was full of stuff.

Along all of the sides were drawers, cupboards, tables, and chairs with even more objects stacked up onto each other; books, paints, mugs, cups, cutlery, duvets, blankets, sweet tins, toys, cushions, board games, and torches. The cupboard drawers were stuffed with even more items, and stacked on top of other stacks were filled plastic boxes. Everywhere she looked, Corinna saw a kaleidoscope of colour and chaos.

The floor was covered in multiple layers of rugs, causing the ground to be uneven. Along the walls were crudely put up shelves storing even more books. The numerous nails hammered into them indicated that the shelves were always falling down. Hanging from the ceiling were several strings of faerie lights along with toy aeroplanes and origami birds.

In one corner of the room was a small tent, able to fit perhaps two people laying down inside. Opposite it on the other side of the basement, was a doll's house resting on a drawer. A window was open and inside it glowed a warm emerald green. It was the wisp. Sensing Corinna and Harmony's presence, the wisp whizzed out of the doll's house and circled around them before settling on the chimaera's head.

"You should change out of your wet clothes," suggested Harmony, placing a towel from a nearby stack of them around Corinna's shoulders. "You can find some new ones down there." She then pointed to the far end of the basement where there was a row of clothes racks. "I'll go make us some food."

Corinna nodded and watched as the chimaera climbed back upstairs, then she returned her attention back to the clothing racks, wading her way through a maze of stacked books and an assortment of objects.

Despite unable to wear any of these clothes, as she could not fit them in her monster form, Harmony had collected quite a considerable number of garments, all sorted in a rainbow of colour. Corinna spotted a pair of navy dungarees with large pockets, both comfortable and practical, then combined it with a dark purple t-shirt.

Harmony finally returned with two bowls of steaming food, finding Corinna all dry and in her new get-up.

"Oh," said Harmony, looking the new outfit up and down. "Sorry. I thought white was your favourite colour."

"What?" Corinna looked down at her herself, confused. "Why did you think that?"

"Because you were wearing a white dress when you arrived," said Harmony, shrugging her shoulders as if the answer was obvious.

"Oh." Corinna giggled. "Is that why you gave me all of those white clothes? You know you can wear more than one colour."

"Yeah, but why would you?" Harmony scoffed.

Corinna laughed, then stopped upon the realisation: the green cloak, the green curtains, the lampshade, the wind-up toy frog, and how the majority of the objects in the basement were green, especially the clothes.

"I don't suppose your favourite colour is green?"

Harmony responded with a playful grin before sitting down inside the tent. Corinna followed inside and sat next to her, receiving a bowl of hot food and a fork.

"If I had a favourite colour, mine would probably be red," said Corinna.

The chimaera looked down up and down at the young woman's current outfit, clearly void of any red then shook her head in confusion.

"You know," Corinna began, after gulping down a forkful of food. "I thought you would have some sort of dark secret hiding here. I don't understand why you didn't you let me down here."

If Harmony could blush in her monster form, she would have been at that moment. "Because it's... untidy."

Corinna laughed. "Is it really that shameful?" She then fell silent, realising that it was not the real reason, seeing Harmony fidgeting with her cloak, her hands quivering. Corinna looked around at the basement, at the clutter and junk. Some of them were inaccessible from the wades of stacked blankets and books.

Harmony's collection of items had long before became a hoard. And it was a problem.

After a moment of silently eating, Corinna finally said, "thank you... for the clothes."

Harmony nodded, then remembered that she could talk and replied, "no problem. They look good on you."

"Thanks." Corinna bit down on her lip.

Once they had both finished their food, Harmony handed Corinna a blanket, then threw several more on top of her until there was a large pile of material and muffled hysterical giggling coming from underneath. Inside the tent, they both curled up wrapped in the mountain of sheets and duvets. All of the lights were turned off, except one dim and faint lamp. Nestled in warmth, they both soon fell asleep.